Pain
by Mell8
Summary: Warning! Rape, Torture. Who else can understand the pain caused when your body and mind betray you? Who else knows when to offer comfort and when hiding is best? Who else but someone as tortured as yourself. DG
1. Chapter 1

Draco lay on his stomach, his legs hanging off the edge of the bed and his pants around his ankles. He turned his face away from the rotten panting breaths and stifled his sobs. Crying would only make the torment last longer. Draco knew that from experience.

The bed rocked under him, back and forth, timed with the thrusts that forced Draco's hips into the bed.

The pain could be ignored and Draco had grown practiced at shuffling the aches and the indignity to the back of his mind. Wetness exploded inside him and a heavy body collapsed on top of Draco. As the person above him gasped for breath, Draco waited, hoping that this was all he had to endure tonight. Some nights it was almost bearable, like how tonight had been so far. Most nights it was much worse.

Draco stifled a shudder as a wand callused hand gripped his shoulder and turned him over onto his back. It was going to be a horrible night Draco thought as he stared into grey eyes that were so similar to his own.

"Will you do it boy?" The hated voice hissed. "Or must I use the Imperious?" Draco kept his eyes blank and turned his head to the side.

'Let him do what he wants', Draco moaned in his head. He did not want to have any part in his own humiliation.

A wand was pointed between his eyes and the curse was cast. For the next few hours Draco was blissfully unaware of his grief and degradation. All he had to do was what the voice in his mind told him to.

So he sucked when he was ordered to suck and licked when he was ordered to lick. He even willing bent back over on the bed and when another man joined, Draco did not even flinch.

It was only after, when he was alone in his bedroom, that Lucius Malfoy released his son from the Imperious Curse and left the boy to cry his hurts away by himself.

The night before Draco's return to school was always the worst, Draco thought idly as his father slipped into his room. Draco lay in bed and did not speak as his father used his wand to vanish the bedcovers. Draco soon found himself strung onto a whipping post. His hands were secured above him and to the sides. His feet were bound to the sides and he was about half a meter above the ground.

The whip, a nine-tailed leather monstrosity, lay at Draco's feet as the boy was bent over and his buttocks spread apart. Draco concentrated on the whip, using it as a focus to keep him from crying out now. He knew that he would be screaming over much worse later.

Draco woke on the floor in a pool of his own blood around six in the morning. House elves were carefully packing his belongings and cleaning the bloodstains off the floor from the night. Draco could order one of the house elves to heal him but the last time he had done that Lucius had punished his son so horribly that the worst of Draco's scars where from that incident. Draco would never ask for a house elf's aid again.

He was showered and dressed by the time a house elf came to inform him that it was time to leave. Draco almost sobbed in relief. Once he was on the train he had four months away from his father. Four months when he could rebuild his sense of self and gather his shattered dignity back together.

Draco carefully walked down the stairs into the welcoming hall where their chauffeur, an aging house elf, was waiting to drive him and his father to Kings Cross Station. Lucius clapped a hand on Draco's shoulder and Draco winced. His father had purposely smacked him on one of the worse whip marks. Narcissa walked around the corner and gently hugged her son goodbye. She never spoke any more, Lucius had cured her of that, but she still showed her only son some affection.

The car ride was a long one and when they were half way to the station Lucius turned to his son with a leer. "Strip boy."

Draco ignored his father but still found himself naked and facedown on the seat of the car mere moments later. Lucius gripped Draco on two of the most painful and bloody whip marks as he took his pleasure. Draco just thought about getting on the train and escaping for four whole months.

Lucius and Draco stepped out of their car, both perfectly combed and dressed, and headed to platform nine and three quarters.

"Be good at school boy," Lucius hissed, "or you will be punished when you get home."

Draco nodded mutely and left to find his own compartment. His elation at finally getting away from his father was tempered by the fact that Lucius would be keeping a careful eye on Draco. If Draco was even a minute late to any class Lucius would know and Draco would be punished.

Draco quickly slid into an empty compartment, sat down on the seat in a way that did not hurt his bruised body too much, and settled in for a long and blissfully father free train ride.

"Tom, no! Don't!" Ginny whimpered as her skirt was pushed up and her knickers ripped off. She tried to keep her legs together but the stronger force won. The pain was sharp and hard. It bruised the tender skin inside of her legs and Ginny cried out in pain with every thrust. When Tom collapsed on top of her, he laughed when he felt the tears on her cheeks. All Ginny could feel was humiliation and weakness. She was not strong enough to fight off the powerful presence of Tom, Lord Voldemort. She was not strong enough in body and definitely not strong enough in mind.

Tom rolled off of Ginny and gently wiped a hand between her legs. He showed her his fingers with a look of evil glee on his twisted features. They were red with Ginny's blood and white with Tom's semen.

"I will leave this with you so you can remember our time together." He laughed and wiped his stained fingers down the tear tracks on Ginny's cheeks.

Tom slowly faded from sight and Ginny lay sobbing until her dreaming ebbed and she woke up in her comforting bed at home.

Ginny sat up and slowly pushed the covers off her aching body. She was still dressed in her ragged pajamas that had once belonged to Bill and it did not seem as if she had moved at all in the night.

"It was only a dream," Ginny whispered to herself. It was still dark outside and her room was bathed in shadows.

It was not until the red sun started to peak over the horizon that Ginny could see that what she had previously thought had been sweat and tears was actually blood.

Ginny smiled brightly as she bid her mother and father goodbye. She even managed to assure them that she would stay safe and look after Ron, Harry, and Hermione without breaking down and telling her parents that she had not gotten her period last night, as her parents thought, but had been raped by the feared Lord Voldemort himself.

It was not until she had boarded the train and had abandoned her family and friends to their own compartments that she allowed her cheerful veneer to drop. A few passing students gave her odd looks as she walked by them on her way to find an empty compartment but Ginny ignored them in favor of being alone. After all, who else could understand what she had experienced? Surely there was not another person on this train who knew what it was like to be humiliated in such a way.

For a fleeting moment Ginny entertained the idea of finding another person who could empathize. The idea faded as quickly as it came and Ginny was left standing in front of the last compartment on the train without any hopes for her survival.

With a tear filled sigh and a stifled sob Ginny pushed her way into the compartment and sat across from a sleeping boy. She looked at his gaunt features and carefully combed blond hair without comprehension. All she saw was the twisted grimace that screamed of bad dreams and painful experiences.

Ginny almost reached out to wake the boy from his fitful dreams but stopped herself before she touched him. Maybe for him, dreams were a safer place than the waking world.

When Draco woke, hours had passed and the sky was just beginning to shine with bright pinks, reds and oranges that spoke of the coming dusk. He watched as darkness slowly stole over the sky and a very small, sardonic smile lit his face. Usually Draco was dreading the time when the sun abandoned him because it meant that night and a visit from his father would soon follow the disappearance of light. Now he was on the Hogwarts Express, probably not more that twenty minutes away from Hogwarts, night was quickly arriving, and his father could not touch him. It was exhilarating to feel the freedom and he wondered, as he did every year at this time, how he could bear returning to his hated home with his loathsome father.

There was a minute whimper to his right and Draco quickly wiped all expression from his face before turning to glare at the intruder. He need not have bothered to make himself look presentable because the girl sitting across from him had clearly been there most of the train ride and she was lost in a nightmare that kept her captive inside of her mind.

Draco watched as the girl struggled to fight off her dreams and failed, but when the tears started to flow down her cheeks in helpless tracks, he stepped forward and gently took her hand. She reminded him of the muggle he had been forced to rape; so innocent and young and jaded. He could sympathize with her plight.

So when she feebly mouthed the words 'no, please don't' in a soundless whisper that screamed pain, Draco gripped her shoulder and carefully shook the girl awake.

She blinked at him for a few moments as if she were expecting to see someone else, someone frightening, standing over her. Then comprehension dawned and the girl quickly wiped away her tears with the ragged cuff of her muggle shirt and covered her face with a blank expression. Draco thought she only managed to look like she could be broken that much easier.

He thought for a second about offering her sympathy or even pity but he banished the thought. If the last emotions he wanted directed at him from someone who knew what he was going through were those in particular, Draco did not wanted to subject the girl with them. She deserved better than that.

Instead he gave her a bland look and turned to dig in his trunk for his school robes. Draco could feel her watching him, as if she was waiting for a malicious comment, but he ignored her and peeled off his shirt.

The girl gasped but quickly focused on her own trunk. Draco flinched when he realized what she had noticed on his body. Scars. There was barely a clean inch of skin left on his back from all the years his father had been beating him and forcing Draco to heal his body the muggle way, which left massive scarring. He waited, breathless, for the girl to ask about his scars but after a long moment of her continued silence he finally understood that because he had honored his silence when he had the chance to ask the girl about her dreams, she was giving him the same polite treatment.

Or so he thought. Instead he watched as the girl pulled off her own shirt, leaving her in her bra, and turned to show him her front. Draco could not stop his eyes from widening reflexively when he saw the huge, dark purple and blue bruises that covered all of her lower abdomen and dropped below the line of her pants.

And suddenly, Draco understood. Maybe she was not being raped physically, like he was, but mental rape still left scars, especially when the attacker was skilled in Legilimency.

He had inadvertently found a kindred spirit, someone who understood what he was going through and even more importantly, someone who knew when not to ask questions.

Classes had finally ended for the week and Ginny quickly took herself away from the student population down a dark corridor that led into the bowels of the castle where no one bothered to travel any longer. Classes had been hard. Keeping her eyes blank and a happy smile on her face so the teachers did not notice that anything was wrong with her was harder than telling Ron that she was not interested in playing on the Gryffindor Quidditch team this year and telling Hermione that she did not have any time to spend on SPEW.

Still, even for all that, Ginny had one thought that at least gave her something else to focus on, a real human boy.

Tom had returned last night and had left her covered in blood again after using her body repeatedly. Yet even when Tom spread her legs so wide that her hipbones creaked in warning she was able to turn her head to the side and ignore the monster's invading presence. Instead she thought about the boy she had met on the train, a boy she now recognized as Draco Malfoy, and she realized that the mass amount of scars, old and new, on his body meant that he had been able to endure what they both were going through for years and he had not lost his sanity yet. He gave her some hope that she could survive until Harry killed Voldemort and freed her from Tom's reaching mind.

There was a soft footstep behind Ginny and she spun with her secondhand wand outstretched and ready to beat back anyone who dared to invade her privacy. Malfoy stood down the hallway with his arms held out to show that he was unarmed.

"Hey," he whispered in a quiet voice that creaked with disuse. He carefully looked her up and down and noted the way she curled in on herself as if she were expecting a blow and the way her eyes were a little too large and she was breathing heavily from fear. "Come on Weasley. I'll show you a room that is unplottable in this castle where you can go if the rabble become too trying."

He walked slowly giving Ginny every chance she wanted to run but Ginny wanted to know about this room. How often had she wished in the last week that she could just run somewhere where no one would find her; a place where she could hide from the prying eyes of the world? It seemed that Malfoy was giving her that place and, as long as he never tried to touch her, she would be grateful.

Draco led her down a dark, dusty and clearly abandoned hallway and stopped outside of an old ripped and empty painting. He pushed the picture aside and held it open for her to climb into the room ahead of him.

"I use this room to relax," he whispered behind her as she surveyed the room. There was a huge couch that looked like it would collapse in an explosion of feathers and fluff if someone sat on it, an equally big roaring fireplace, and a bed with so many pillows that it was impossible to see that there was a fluffy down comforter and a multitude of blankets hidden beneath. The room was tasteless. Instead looked like it had been designed as a perfect place to cry and sleep where nightmares would not dare reach. To Ginny, it looked like heaven.

"I decorated it myself," Draco continued and he moved around Ginny and slowly sat down on the fluffy and slightly shabby rug in front of the fire. "I come here when I can't handle the attentions of everyone else in the castle. You are welcome to stay here any time you wish as long as you never bring any one else down here."

"Thank you Draco," Ginny whispered back in a tired voice that spoke of sleepless nights plagued by visits from Tom. She sank appreciatively into the fluffy pillows on the couch and promptly fell asleep.

Draco watched Ginny as she slept and smiled thinly when he realized that whatever she suffered during her dreams would not harm her while she was in this room. He pulled a blanket off the bed and gently covered her before sinking into the bed by himself for his own dearly needed sleep.

It had been hours, probably near an entire day, before Draco woke. He was glad that it was a Saturday so neither of them would be missed.

Draco was not sure what exactly had drawn him into telling Ginny about his room when he had seen her after classes the previous day.

He remembered her from the previous year. She was always following behind Potter and his friends and she never seemed to feel like she was a third wheel. Ginny was fiery and had a constant smile on her face. Draco remembered looking at her and forcing away his jealousy. The red headed girl had been so happy and carefree; everything he could never be. Now…well now something in her had failed. The difference was mostly in her eyes. So while Ginny smiled brightly and spoke in her usual chipper voice Draco focused on the pained eyes that showed, to anyone who bothered to look, just how much grief she was suffering. Ginny's eyes were the windows to a soul that was dying; slowly and painfully dying.

She looked like she would have a breakdown in the middle of the second floor corridor so he followed her. He saw the way she furtively looked around before sneaking into the unused hallways that led beneath the school and had known at that moment that the little girl needed someplace where she could release her tensions. So he gave up his only safety to her because she clearly needed it as much as he did.

When she woke he would show her the bathroom he had magically installed into the small storage closet attached to the room and he would show her the magical spell that filched food from the kitchens so he never had too leave the room if he did not want to.

And he hoped that his help gave Ginny the strength to fight off whatever attacked her before it consumed her because he wanted to see that cheerful girl from before. Draco wanted to be jealous of little Ginny Weasley again.

Submersed in that fleeting hope was the one wish that Draco would never acknowledge. It was a wish that beat constantly at his soul but he shuffled it to the side where he could ignore it.

He wished that maybe, hopefully, Ginny Weasley would grow strong enough to help him destroy his demons and fight back against his father.

That somehow, Ginny Weasley would save him.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the usual confrontation. Draco Malfoy stood in the hallway flanked by Crabb and Goyle. Pansy Parkinson, after finally forgiving him for not spending time with her on the train, stood behind Draco and to his left. Blaise Zabini hovered to his right.

Harry Potter stood boldly in front of Draco and his friends, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley, stood next to the boy hero. Other Gryffindors, all friends with Potter, stood around the group as if Potter and his friends needed extra protection and only they could offer safety.

They were fighting.

It had started innocently enough. Draco had sent a passing comment over his shoulder at the boy Weasley as he walked by the trio.

"Have you seen to your little Weasley bint recently? She looks like you Weasley's are unable to afford decent medi-witches to look after the health of your family." Draco had meant to stir up Ginny's brother so that he would go scurrying off in search of his sister and her state of wellbeing. Instead, for some reason Ronald Weasley had taken it upon himself to defend his families' honor and his sister's health.

Now they were having a heated row. It would have been entertaining for Draco if he could not see Potter and his friends fingering their wands a little too eagerly. The last thing Draco wanted was to be hit with a curse, sent to the hospital wing and eventually have Madam Pomfrey see the still fresh albeit scabbed lash marks across his body. Instead he scoured his mind to find a way out of the argument without looking like he was a coward.

Potter finished insulting Draco's ancestors with a flourish of his hand. Draco smiled and lifted a blond eyebrow.

"Come Potter, must you descend so low as to insult the dead?" Draco smirked coolly and visibly basked in the malicious giggles from Pansy in response to his blow.

"Oh," Ronald Weasley hissed, "are you going to run to dear daddy now?"

Draco stiffened but the oblivious Weasley continued.

"But wait…I nearly forgot, daddy and his son are so close. Do you share your bed and your body with dear daddy as well as your penchant to run to evil bastards for protection?" Ronald smirked spitefully and lifted his chin.

Draco slowly uncurled his body from the protective stance he had flinched into when his father was mentioned. When Draco reached his full height, a good hands length higher than the idiot Weasley, he snarled.

"You know nothing about what occurs between me and my father, Weasley. Do not dare presume to understand my life." His voice was strong but not with hostility. Fear sapped any semblance of life from his words and his breathing was too harsh to be called anything but panting.

Ginny watched as Draco turned so quickly that she was sure he must have injured himself. The boy disappeared into the depths of the castle before most onlookers realized that he had left.

When she turned her attention to Ron and his friends, Ginny was astounded to see them smiling and joking with each other.

"Does that mean that he really sleeps with his father?" Ginny heard Ron ask Hermione in a stage whisper that brought attention back to the trio. Ginny scowled and pulled her wand out of her pocket.

Three quick spells later left Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley painfully unconscious and Ginny running down the corridors after Draco.

She found him on the bed in their safe room, shirtless, with blood running in rivers down his back from the opened whip scabs. Draco was crying piteously and was struggling to put pressure on his wounds to halt the bleeding. Every time he moved a muscle in his back the bleeding increased.

Ginny quickly ran forward. "Here," she whispered, "let me." It did not register that she was willingly touching another boy, something she had shied from since the first fateful night Tom had invaded her dreams. All that crossed Ginny's mind was to stop the bleeding before Draco lost consciousness.

She carefully applied pressure to the open slashes and pulled out her wand to disinfect and close them.

"Leave the scars," Draco whimpered, "he will be mad if the scars are healed."

Ginny nodded wordlessly and slowly began the long process of healing the boy. She did not care who had scarred Draco so horribly, although she had her suspicions after the argument she had just overheard. All she wanted was to stop the bleeding and to help, at least in a small way, the only person who had noticed that Ginny was slowly withering away.

She never really bothered to eat and sleep was fleeting. Why eat when her healthy body had betrayed her to Toms' lust? Why sleep when her dreams brought only pain? So maybe her body was failing faster than her sanity. Maybe she looked so sick sometimes that even Harry was giving her worried sidelong looks.

It did not matter what others thought about her because they did not truly understand what ailed her. Only Draco, the boy she was carefully healing, had acknowledged that dark creature that plagued her. Only Draco had been able to assuage some of the debilitating pain. Draco understood and Draco was dying for the same reasons.

Once the lash marks were safely healed Ginny pulled out her handkerchief and gently wiped the tears from Draco's face.

He grabbed her wrist in a clutching hand as she went to pull away. "Thank you," he whispered.

"Shhh, it's okay. Everything will be fine." Ginny gently soothed the boy and ran a hand down this disheveled head. "Go to sleep. I will be here when you wake up."

Amazingly, Draco fell asleep clutching Ginny's hand like the lifeline she meant it to be and, even more surprising, was the fact that Ginny not only let a male hold her hand, but she climbed into the bed next to the poor boy and leaned her tired head on his shoulder.

Weeks passed and September gave way to October and the preparations for the Halloween feast were in full swing. Ginny now spent nearly all of her nights sleeping next to Draco on their bed in the secret room. Their relationship was childlike in its innocence but both Draco and Ginny needed the comfort and security the other offered more than they needed a physical relationship.

When Ginny was with Draco, Tom did not dare touch her. She felt like Draco's presence held her mind inside of her own body and even if Tom dared to touch her dreams Draco would send him away.

Draco needed Ginny like babies needed a security blanket. When his memories of his father became too strong, when his scars cracked and bled, and when he felt that the world condemned him for allowing his father to touch him, Ginny was always there.

They always held hands when they were alone together. Ever since the night Ginny healed Draco they had needed the comfort of touch to sooth their fears.

Both teens dreaded the day they would be separated because they knew that a single night without the other present would undo all of the healing they had managed to achieve so far.

Being alone was a terrifying thought.

Ginny looked around the Great Hall with more than a little trepidation. Dumbledore had decided that the Halloween feast would be buffet style with small tables for ten scattered around the room. The headmaster had also required that every table have representatives from each house. It was a horrifying thought for most students because they were being forced to sit and converse with Slytherins. For Ginny it meant that anonymity sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table was being denied to her.

Ginny grabbed a plate from the buffet table and pilled the barest minimum of food possible onto it. She looked around the room for an empty table and found Draco sitting in the corner by himself. She quickly walked over to his table and sat across from the blond.

If it was possible Ginny thought that Draco had less food on his plate than she had on hers. The boy had neglected to wear his robes to the feast and instead was wearing a muggle style shirt and pants that were baggy enough to hide the fact that he was dangerously skinny but were still tailored and expensive looking. He looked wan and tired but he was still alive so Ginny was pleased.

"Hey Ginny!" Ginny stiffened and looked at Draco apologetically before turning her head to look at Ron. "Why're you sitting in the corner?" Ron asked before stuffing a forkful of potatoes into his mouth.

Hermione walked up behind Ginny's disgusting brother and smiled. "May we sit with you Ginny?" She asked quietly.

They had neglected to notice Draco's presence at the table so far but Ginny knew that eventually one of the trio would notice her "unsavory" table partner.

"Ginny…why is Malfoy at your table?" It was Harry who finally noticed and Ginny could not help cringing at the note of hatred in Harry's voice.

"We have to sit with people from other houses," Ginny whispered. "Remember what Dumbledore said?"

"Yea, but why Malfoy? I mean the bloke is evil. Couldn't you have found someone else?" Ron snarled in Draco's general direction.

"As much as I appreciate you discussing me while I am within earshot," Draco said with a tired glare at the boys, "you are being rude and I am afraid that you are spoiling my dinner. I was so enjoying toying with the girl Weasley." Draco could not stop the comment from slipping out of his lips. He saw Ginny wince so he quickly turned to leave before her brother decided to interrogate him.

"No! Ron! Leave him alone!" Ginny screamed. Draco spun around.

It was as if the world had stepped into slow motion for a few seconds. Draco saw Ginny clinging to her brother, begging for Ronald to leave Draco alone. He saw Potter and Granger glaring at him. And he saw Ronald Weasley's hand reach out and grip the back of his shirt.

A resounding rip echoed through the quiet great hall. Everyone present had stopped to look at what Ginny was screaming about and where able to see something worse.

Draco's shirt was ripped irreparably. One sleeve slid down his arm while the rest pooled around his waist. His entire torso and back was uncovered for all of the eyes in the Great Hall to see.

The boy whimpered and looked around wildly for an exit. His eyes were wide with fear and he was hunched in on himself to hide as many of the cuts as he could.

It was futile. Everyone saw the scars and wondered. Everyone knew that Draco Malfoy did not have the perfect body he pretended.

He ran out of the great hall and disappeared before anyone could comment.

Ginny rushed into the safe room fifteen minutes after Draco's rushed exit from the Great Hall. She had stayed for a while to hear the gossip about a shirtless Draco Malfoy. Luckily it seemed that the only people who had gotten a clear look at the boy's skin where the trio. Anyone further away could only see the three angry red weals. The smaller and more healed marks had been made invisible due to distance.

Hermione had been shocked but silent and Harry had been too surprised by the blonde's abrupt exit to comment. Ron had immediately opened his mouth to no doubt ask, in his loud and grating voice, about Draco Malfoy and his multitude of scars, but Hermione grabbed the red head and pulled him to a secluded table. Ginny listened as Hermione berated Ron for his rash actions and warned him not to divulge other people's secrets. Ginny could not keep the smile off her face as she saw Ron nod and agree to keep his mouth shut about the entire issue until they had figured out why Malfoy had so many injuries.

"Draco?" Ginny whispered. The boy was not on the bed or the couch. In fact, Ginny did not see him anywhere. Did he go back to the Slytherin Common Room instead of going to the safe room? Ginny almost left the room but stopped when she heard a tiny whimper.

He was under the bed!

Ginny crouched down next to the bed and looked underneath. Draco, still lacking a shirt, was curled into a ball under the bed. He lifted his anguished face, showing his red eyes and tear stained cheeks, to Ginny and gasped.

"He'll kill me!"

Ginny did not ask who or why she just held out a hand towards the boy. He gripped her hand in one of his shaking ones but did not move from his hiding spot.

"I'm sorry," Draco whispered in his broken and cracking voice, "but I don't think I can handle having company right now."

Ginny nodded. "I will go to my common room but I will come back in the morning. Feel better."

"You have been avoiding me girl! How dare you try to escape my grasp!" Tom's fist connected painfully with Ginny's stomach. "I am your Lord and you will pay for your disobedience."

Tom did not stop hitting her for what seemed like hours. Every time a fist connected with her body Ginny gasped and when Tom started kicking her curled-up form she began to scream. Tom laughed.

He stopped for a second and Ginny fought to catch her breath and to send her pain somewhere else. When Tom reached for her again Ginny winced but was able to stop her mouth from uttering even a whimper. He rolled her body over until she was on her hands and knees. Tom roughly parted her legs and forced himself inside of her. His hands reached around her waist and held her breasts in a grip that threatened to pop the delicate glands.

When Lord Voldemort left, Ginny drifted in white, blank dreams for a while. Her mind was in so much shock that even normal dream images could not penetrate the white haze her shattered conscience had flung her into.

Ginny woke slowly as if her mind was unwilling to allow her to wake and face herself. She did not really want to get up if, judging by her dreams during the night, her body was in such bad shape as she thought.

She slowly pulled the covers off with one aching arm and moaned. She was naked and bloody and bruised. Her entire body was covered in lurid purple and blue marks that slowly grew as she watched. Two handprint shaped bruises marred her delicate breasts and the nipples were so pinched that they were pointed and purple. It was horrible.

Ginny slowly grabbed her wand from the bedside table and scourgified all of the blood away and began healing herself. As far as Ginny could tell, she had three broken ribs, severe bruising, and possible internal bleeding. She could check the last one when she went to the bathroom and peed blood.

It was Saturday morning so Ginny did not have to worry about missing classes or over sleeping. All she worried about was how she was going to go down seven flights of stairs so she could see Draco. Movement did not seem like a pleasant idea at the moment but Ginny could almost feel Draco's anxiety at her late appearance so she forced herself to her feet and into her nightgown. She shuffled downstairs and out the portrait hole. Ginny waved what she hoped looked like a sleepy good morning instead of a pain filled stay away from me warning at her brother and Colin Creevy when she passed them on the steps and gratefully slid into the abandoned corridors that led to the safe place.

She slid into the bed above a sleeping Draco, who was still underneath the bed, and began to cry.

How could two souls as shattered and broken as theirs fix themselves when adversity lingered around every corner?

…Especially when winter break and a trip home for Draco and Ginny loomed only two months away…


	3. Chapter 3

WARNING: graphic. Please do not read if you are not of age.

"So when we get home I say we play a quick game of Quidditch. I'll be Keeper, and of course, Harry, you'll be Seeker, hmmm, oh right," Ron turned to his left and smiled, "Ginny, you can play chaser. I'm sure that my brothers won't mind filling in the rest of the missing positions." Ron continued talking in his ambling vein for another hour. Harry nodded and agreed with Ron's suggestions and Hermione had her face buried in a book.

Ginny forced herself not to react to Ron's careless words. Didn't he realize that Ginny had quit the school team for a very pressing reason? Could he not see that sitting on a broom was painful for her? She tried to keep her face blank; to hide all the feelings of disbelief and hurt that Ron's innocent words drove into her fragile soul. Ginny could feel her mask slipping and cracking.

She slowly stood up and left the train compartment. As she closed the door Ginny half expected one of the three occupants to ask where she was going. The door slowly slid closed with a quiet click and Ginny turned away.

Was it too much to ask that someone noticed her abrupt departure?

For someone to notice her?

Apparently, it was.

Ginny continued walking down the train. She passed compartment after compartment filled with happy students who were anxious to be home for the holidays and excited to see their parents. Ginny kept walking. She did not experience those feelings herself. Instead she had a heightened sense of dread and sadness, deep sadness, whenever she thought of Draco going home to his father.

Ginny had wanted to spend the holidays at the castle carefully locked away in the safe room. She had begged her mother to allow her to stay but her mother had been adamant. Apparently the holidays this year were an excuse for the Weasley matron to call all of her children home, including Harry and Hermione, and she would not allow her youngest baby to be absent.

When Ginny had asked Draco why he went home for the holidays when he could stay at Hogwarts, safe from his father, Draco had winced and turned his head away.

"What would your mother do if you disobeyed her wishes and stayed here? My guess is that she would send a howler and punish you further once you went home for the summer. My father would do worse." Draco stopped speaking and Ginny saw that he was reliving some inner pain so she dropped the subject entirely.

Ginny reached the end of the train and turned around.

Neither of them was strong enough to disobey their parents. The threat of continued punishment was sufficient deterrent for those rebellious thoughts. Neither could free themselves from the burning chains, though invisible, which bound them.

When Ginny reached the other end of the train she began to notice something odd. The train was slowing down even though they were still hours away from their destination. Soon other students began to notice and many began sticking their heads out of the windows to see what was wrong.

The train came to a slow stop.

All Ginny remembered was someone saying, "Stupefy," before the train faded from sight.

III

When she woke Ginny knew that yet another horror had decided to impose itself in her life. She was in a cell, four walls of gray stone and a tiny door. She was not chained or tortured, but how long until even that small relief was stolen from her?

"She wakes Master," a hard voice hissed.

"Bring her to the torture chamber."

Ginny whimpered. She would recognize that voice anywhere. It haunted her sleep and slid through her mind like she was his plaything. Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle, the Dark Lord, whatever his name, his high, evil voice rang through the dungeons sealing her fate with his cruel words.

The door to her cell opened and Ginny was spelled into unconsciousness again.

This time when she woke, the first thing Ginny noticed was that she was naked. Lucius Malfoy stood over her with a smirk on his face. She recoiled away from the bastard and curled into a ball to hide her nudity from his leering eyes. She did not want to know why her clothing had been removed. Ginny did not want to think about the man standing over her and know that the torturous attentions he had fixed upon his only son could easily be turned on her. In fact, Ginny did not want to think at all. She wanted to close her eyes and die, to disappear from this world away from Voldemort and Lucius and most importantly, away from the pain that she was about to endure.

"Bring in the boy," Lucius hissed. Ginny heard a clang as a door opened and moments later an equally nude Draco Malfoy was dropped at her feet.

Draco raised his head and Ginny gasped. His eyes, those tired gray eyes, were empty. The soul that usually shined in Draco's bright expressive eyes was gone. Instead a powerful mask had slid in place hiding his emotions and his pain from his father.

"You know your task boy!" Lucius snarled, spit flying from his mouth. The man caressed a long whip belted to his side and eyed Draco expectantly. When the boy did not move Lucius smiled coldly.

The whip came to his hand faster than her eyes could follow and a red lash soon wound its way across Draco's back. But the whip was long. The very end of the leather kissed Ginny's arm and a welt quickly began to rise. She could not stop the pained look that crossed her face or the soft cry that escaped her lips.

Ginny saw, in that half a moment, Draco pierce her with his gaze and she knew that the more she was hurt, the more his resolve would falter. The pain and sorrow she saw in his eyes was enough to strengthen her tenacity. The next time the whip fell she did not show a sign of her pain and she watched as Draco took strength from her decision.

After too long a time, Lucius grew tired of whipping his son and to a lesser extent Ginny. He coiled the whip and fastened it at his hip before leaning down over his son with a sneer on his face.

"Very well then. If you will not rape the girl, I will."

The whip came down hard on Ginny's shoulders before a fist knocked her on her back. A lash opened up on her stomach and then on her inner thigh. Cruel hands forced her legs apart and Ginny could not stop a loud sob.

She watched, denial in her eyes, as Lucius Malfoy began to unfasten his pants and she knew with complete certainty that Lucius Malfoy would do more than just rape her, he would break her.

"I'll do it."

"I knew you would see reason eventually," Lucius sniffed as he turned to face his son.

But Draco was not looking at his father. His eyes were focused on Ginny and she could see something in his eyes, great sorrow, apologies, or just resignation she did not know; but whatever it was told her that there was no way to escape her fate.

Draco slid in between her open legs and rested his weight against her hips. His eyes had become cold and hard again and Ginny shivered.

They had held hands, had lived in the same room, and had even slept curled together in the same bed for mutual comfort. They had never kissed or touched; neither of them felt the need or the want because both were too scared to even think of such ideas when faced with their personal horrors.

Now, Draco was going to rape her. Deep down Ginny knew that Draco was saving her from Lucius Malfoy. Yet, all she could see was a man with the intent to hurt her. She was helpless to stop what was about to happen. Ginny could only hope that Draco did not hurt her worse than Tom Riddle did in her dreams.

"Having problems boy?" Lucius snarled from over both of them.

Ginny blinked and pushed her fear away for a second so she could think objectively. Draco was just lying on top of her. His breathing was harsh and his face was closed but, Ginny thought with a cold shiver, Draco most certainly did not want to rape her. She could feel his penis where it lay pressed between their bodies but it was soft and small. If Draco really wanted to do…this…he would be hard and excited. He would not be clutching her shoulder like he wished that this could all be over. Ginny suddenly realized that this was just as painful for Draco as it was for her. He was just as scared and upset as she was.

"How can you be a Malfoy?" Lucius hissed. "No son of mine would be unable to rape a helpless girl. Open your mouth boy!" He was holding out a tiny potion flask out in one hand. Ginny felt Draco recoil from the bottle. "I said open your mouth boy!" Draco did not move and Lucius sighed in a long-suffering way. "Very well, Crabbe, Goyle! Why don't you help me with this girl? If there isn't enough room we could always carve some new holes in her body."

Draco opened his mouth.

"I thought so boy. You're weak." Lucius dripped two drops of viscous liquid into Draco's mouth and laughed coldly when Draco struggled to swallow.

Seconds later Ginny knew what the potion was meant to do as she felt Draco harden and watched as a dark light entered his eyes. She whimpered as Draco shifted and positioned himself correctly.

He bent down over her body and whispered, "I am so sorry," in her ear. He pushed himself into her body and Ginny felt a sharp pain as something tore. She whimpered but on the inside she was laughing.

Laughing and laughing and laughing, because after all of the horrors Tom had done to her, the bastard had not taken her virginity.

Laughing and laughing and laughing until all she could think about was how absurd her mind was being because on the outside she had broken into wracking sobs while on the inside she could not stop laughing.

She felt Draco slowly pull back out until he was barely inside of her and felt him ready himself for the next thrust. Ginny screamed in pain and horror as he forced his way back in. She began to struggle; scratching at his back with her bitten nails and kicking his legs with her heals.

Ginny heard laughter and for a second she thought it was her own but instead the cold laugh was coming from beside her.

Lucius Malfoy was watching with an enraptured look on his face. His pants were down around his ankles and a muggle boy was kneeling next to Lucius with Lucius' whip curled lazily around his neck.

Lucius stroked the boy's hair with a rough hand and stepped forward. "Do that again boy. I liked her screams."

Draco slowly pulled back and forced himself inside of her again. Ginny screamed and choked as two drops of liquid slid into her mouth. It was thick and sticky but Ginny swallowed it anyway.

The next time Draco thrust, Ginny moaned. She looked into Draco's blank mask and knew that her face echoed his. Both were blank and filled with dark light from the potion.

III

Ginny woke with a splitting headache. She looked around her and gasped. She was fully clothed and was lying beside the family pond just outside the Burrow. Maybe it had all been a dream?

She carefully levered herself to her feet and whimpered as the area between her legs screamed in protest. So maybe it was not a dream.

Ginny looked down at her hands, down at the bitten nails that had blood imbedded underneath them. It was Draco's blood from when she had scratched him.

Ginny laughed and took a shaky step in the direction of her home. She kept laughing and ignored the hysterical edge to it. The laughter that had been ringing in her head finally spilled out of her mouth. And if she kept choking on her tears as she tried to take a breath, and if she scraped up her hands and knees when she fell down to the ground to cry, who would really care?

Hours later Ginny walked in the back door of the Burrow to find her mother sitting at the kitchen table crying over Ginny's baby picture.

"Mum?" Ginny said quietly.

"Ginny!" Molly Weasley screamed. "Where have you been? What happened?"

Ginny opened her mouth to tell her the truth but her mouth did not obey her. Instead a different story came flooding out.

"I'm not sure what happened Mum. When the train was slowing down I went to look at what was happening and took a bad step. Next thing I know I've ended up in a clearing in the woods not far from here. I've flown over it with my broom before so I knew where I was. I spent the last couple days walking back here. I'm so sorry Mum."

Mrs. Weasley enveloped her daughter in a hug and Ginny hugged her back. She could not find any more tears. She could not find and more emotions.

Ginny had cut off all her feelings during that last cry. If she did not feel fear, hate, love, sadness, she could not be hurt.

Her mask was perfect and no one would breach it.


	4. Chapter 4

Draco sat at the table, alone but for the house elves bustling around him making breakfast for the school. He looked down at the knife in his hands and wondered. Would it be better for this world if he did not exist?

With a snarl Draco dropped the knife onto the table. How could he think about suicide? He deserved to live just as every human deserved to live. But…

His eyes lit on the knife again and Draco buried his face in his hands. But…

…_all he could see was her red hair, her body as she writhed under him, the horror hidden deep in her eyes, and the screams, the pain_. And he had done that to her.

For that he more than deserved to die.

Draco picked up the knife and looked at his wrists. Would slicing his wrists be painful enough to atone for his sins? He did not think so, but it was the only way he could think of ending himself.

Draco Malfoy smiled serenely; the first smile he had shed in weeks; and left the kitchens for a more private place.

This would be his apology, his goodbye, to Ginevra Molly Weasley.

III

Ginny smiled brightly up at Harry and Ron and marveled at just how easy it was to keep the mask on. She could keep all her true emotions hidden deep inside her soul and only let everyone else see what they wanted to see. So if Harry and Ron wanted to see a happy Ginny who really had not been harmed by her brief sojourn away when the train had been so abruptly stopped; Hermione wanted to see a happy and studious Ginny; her friends wanted to see the Ginny that they had become friends with, then she was more than willing to give them what they wanted. Her mask never slipped. She would not allow it.

Aside from her memories it was usually easy to avoid everything that might crack her façade. She avoided Draco Malfoy and never went down to their secret room and she evaded speaking about what had happened while she was missing.

Tom still sent her dreams at night but Voldemort never touched her. He sent her memories of something worse-

-_Blond hair above her, sweat dripping off his face onto hers, the rhythmic pounding, the moaning, the pain. _

-but this was only a memory; something she had already endured and could therefore ignore.

She would wake up screaming at night with the last hard grunts and the wetness inside riding her consciousness. But it was only memory so she pushed it aside.

No, what was scarier was that sometimes she would wake and wonder if Draco Malfoy would ever do that to her again.

Sometimes she shuddered at the thought and curled into a ball to shun the pain such thoughts brought. Yet, every once in a while and slowly ever more frequently, she would wake wishing that his weight was above her again. She wanted to feel him move inside of her, and that scared her more than Tom ever could.

No, she would never allow another male to touch her. Never again.

"Come on Ginny, we should head down to the Great Hall for breakfast now." Hermione called from the portrait where she, Harry and Ron were waiting for Ginny to meet up with them. Ginny smiled and hurried to catch up with the trio. She stayed a careful half step extra away from the boys but no one bothered to notice.

Ginny sat down at the Gryffindor table and piled a little food onto her plate even though she knew that she would not be able to eat it.

She sat in the Great Hall, at the Gryffindor table, surrounded by people on all sides, and was alone. Who could she talk to? Who deserved to be burdened with her problems? No one should have to know pain so encompassing as hers; so she remained alone.

"Pr-professor!"

Everyone looked up at the voice as a boy rushed into the Great Hall as if the devil were on his heals.

"Oh my God, Professor Dumbledore, hurry! He's bleeding everywhere!"

Dumbledore stood and held a hand for silence. "Mr. Cooper, please explain what exactly has occurred." The old man quickly walked down to the boy and led the way out of the Great Hall. Professors Snape and McGonagall followed.

Ginny could clearly hear as the doors closed behind the last set of heals, "It's Draco Malfoy sir. I…I think he's gone and slit his wrists."

Ginny stood up and stared after the professors. "Draco Malfoy," and "gone and slit his wrists," kept filtering though her mind and she felt it. She felt her mask crack and the pain jump to the forefront of her mind.

Ron looked over at his sister just in time to leap forward and catch the girl as she fainted.

III

"What is going on here?" Madam Pomfrey snarled at Professor Dumbledore. "Sir, this boy is covered in old and new scarring and bruises. It looks like he has been tortured within an inch of his life multiple times. It's no wonder he tried to commit suicide!"

Dumbledore hung his head and sighed. "I'm terribly sorry Poppy but I'm afraid that I do not entirely understand this myself."

"And Albus! This girl," she continued as if she did not hear him, "I've never seen such horrible mental scarring. That's aside from the fact that I think she's been raped both mentally and physically. Honestly, I thought you kept and eye on all the Order and Death Eater children. How could you miss both Draco Malfoy and Ginevra Weasley?"

"They have been hiding from me Poppy." He answered with a sad sigh. "There is a room in the bowels of Hogwarts that only admits those who are in so much pain that it is surprising that they are still alive. The room protects them from all outside influences, including me. Draco Malfoy found the room in his first year and has been spending copious amounts of time there. Miss Weasley was brought to the room this year and I have been unable to keep track of what has been happening to her ever since."

Madam Pomfrey sighed and wiped a tear from her cheek. "I don't think I should be the one healing them. The damage is too extensive and I may injure them further if I try anything. I believe only the medics at St. Mungo's would have a chance at healing them."

Dumbledore nodded. "I will let you make the arrangements Poppy, but I suggest that you request that Mr. Malfoy and Miss Weasley share a room while at the hospital." He left the hospital wing before the healer could ask what the odd twinkle in his eye meant.

III

"No, stop it! Don't touch me!"

Draco woke slowly to loud screams filling the room. He did not stop to look at his surroundings nor did he take a second to wonder why he was still among the living because he recognized that voice, those screams. Draco still heard those cries in his nightmares; he could not forget them as easily as he wished. He would not allow her to be hurt by any one else.

He shot out of bed and was across the room before Ginny could catch her breath enough to scream again. Draco's fist connected with the medi-wizards' face and sent the man sprawling.

Draco bent over Ginny to see if she was all right and saw that her eyes were wide and frightened but were staring beyond him at the place where the strange man had just been hovering. Her flailing arm hit his hand and suddenly she was gripping his hand with all the strength her frail body could muster. His other hand rose to cover her shaking hands as he knelt on the floor next to her bed.

Draco rested his head on the edge of the bed next to her pillow as he realized just how tired and weak her was feeling. He slowly felt Ginny's grip loosen as she too fought and lost with exhaustion. He followed her into sleep moments later and was thankfully unconscious by the time the head medi-witch ran into the room to berate his actions.

III

A.N. I know this is a short chapter but I felt like it needed to end there. I hope you liked this chapter and I'm glad to read every review.

Right now I'm at a crossroads of sorts and I need some help to decide where to go. There are two ways I could take this story.

1. Draco and Ginny slowly and painfully get better and fall in love.

Or

2. Draco and Ginny end up dying/ being forced apart/ something negative and horrible.

The first ends on a happy note, which I'm not sure would work with this story, while the second is very negative which would work but I still want D/G goodness.

Please review and tell me what you think!!!


	5. Chapter 5

Molly Weasley stood in shock as the Healer listed everything that was wrong with her baby daughter. It was a long list that started with the least macabre, severe trauma, and went through rape and ended with the high likeliness of Ginny's death.

The Healer trailed off and turned to glance back along the corridor. It sounded like a girl was screaming, but the only girl down that way was Ginny and she was not going to wake up until tomorrow at the earliest…

The old woman took off running with Mrs. Weasley close behind. The scene they found in the ward was one of both severe curiosity and horror. Molly screamed and backed up until her back hit the wall. Her hand covered her mouth so her sobs were muffled but even that small noise was more than enough to send Charlie rushing in behind her.

Ginny was fine, as well as she could be at least, but the other two occupants in the room were not.

The Healer assigned to the room, a man well versed in healing trauma and rape victims, was collapsed in a corner. One of his cheeks was broken and flattened and his nose was sending blood everywhere. It was a mercy that the man was unconscious.

The other occupant was Draco Malfoy. Molly understood that Dumbledore had his reasons for placing both teens in the same room at the hospital but at first she had not understood why.

Now, well, one look at the poor boy would explain why.

Molly could only see his back and one arm because of the way he was collapsed but that was more than enough. Draco had scars and bruises and cuts, and it was terrible!

Even Charlie had to stop and gasp at the sight and he was used to seeing horrible wounds caused by the dragons he tended.

But the worst part, the one thing that made Molly want to vomit onto the sterile tile floor, was the fresh scar on the boy's arm.

It went from wrist to elbow and still held the shiny redness of a freshly healed cut. Molly did not doubt that the other arm held the same deadly mark.

Draco Malfoy had tried to commit suicide and it was a wonder he had not succeeded.

III

When Draco woke the first thing he noticed was that his hands were empty. He had been moved back to his own bed across the room and someone had gently tucked the covers up under his chin. He glanced over at Ginny's bed and smirked sadly. Her bed was entirely surrounded by a posse of red heads and Draco was alone, as always. He guessed that Dumbledore had told the hospital not to allow his father visiting rights.

To tell the truth, Draco felt partly relieved that his father would not be able to harm him here. But Draco knew that the second he was released his father would finish what Draco had failed with his little knife.

Another Healer entered the room and bent over to whisper in Mr. Weasley's ear.

"So you know who did this to Ginny?"

Draco grimaced. It was Ron Weasley. He pushed the covers down and swung his feet around to the cold floor.

"We know who raped her." The Healer clarified. "We matched the magic signature left behind in her body to the male who raped her. It's like Muggle DNA test…" The Healer paused when she saw the blank looks from the Wizarding family. "Anyway, there are two people who the magic was traced back to."

Draco sighed quietly and stood. "There was no need to do all that testing," Draco said into the expectant and slightly murderous silence. The Weasleys turned to glare at him and Draco almost stepped back at the death he saw in their eyes. All of the Weasleys were prepared to dismember the person who had hurt their baby.

"Mr. Malfoy! You're not strong enough to be moving about! Please lie back down." The Healer rushed over but Draco brushed her away despite the way his legs were shaking from the strain of holding his weight.

"All you had to do was ask me who raped Ginevra Weasley." He took as slow step forward but had to brace himself against the wall as his knees threatened to give out.

"Fine," one of the older Weasley's snarled. "Who raped my sister?"

Draco smiled sadly down at the floor. He couldn't look into their eyes, not with what he was about to say staining his lips.

"I did."

Instantly six wands were pointed at him as all of the Weasley brothers began to plan murder.

"Does your testing support this?" Mrs. Weasley sobbed.

The Healer was standing back by Draco's bed with her head down. "The evidence points towards a Malfoy male, yes. But I assumed it was Lucius Malfoy!"

"My father would have," Draco leaned his head tiredly against the wall, "if I had not stepped in instead."

Spells shot across the room, the Healer screamed, and there was a loud bang as the door slammed open. Draco closed his eyes and waited calmly for the spells to hit him.

He opened them a moment later as he was completely unharmed.

Dumbledore was standing in the door with his wand in hand. "I suggest," he said as he put his wand away, "that we listen to the rest of what Mr. Malfoy has to say before we condemn him. I also suggest that we continue this discussion in the hallway where we will not wake Miss Weasley."

The Weasleys trailed out behind Dumbledore and the Healer helped Draco walk across the room and into the waiting room down the hall.

"Now," Dumbledore said calmly once everyone was seated. "Please explain the circumstances Mr. Malfoy."

Draco closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath.

He could still see that night as if it were etched on the insides of his eyelids. Ginny was laid out like a scared virgin sacrifice; his father was standing over her, whip in hand.

He opened his mouth but could not force his voice to work. He gasped for breath and tried again. Finally a croak came out and he began to speak of that horrible night.

He tried not to remember what it felt like to take the potion and lose his inhibitions. Or to remember what it felt like to slide himself inside of her and to feel her clench herself around him in both fear and passion.

It was a few moments before Draco realized that the wetness on his face was not from sweat but tears. Traitorous tears were slowly dripping down his cheeks and his voice began to break but still, he spoke on.

His eyes were closed so he could not see the looks of pity and horror on his audiences' faces. He did not see Molly Weasley break down into harsh sobs on her husbands shoulder, nor did he see the reactions of the rest of the Weasley clan.

"I made the house elves heal her and send her somewhere where you could find her and take care of her." Draco finished but his voice had broken down to a barely audible croaking whisper. "And then my father made sure that I paid for disobeying his orders." He unconsciously rubbed one of the more recent looking whiplashes on his ribs.

"She won't stop screaming," a junior healer in training rushed into the room, trying catch his breath as he spoke with the healer in charge of Ginny's health.

Draco quieted his own harsh breathing and could barely hear over the other sobs and tears a hard, "Tom no! NO!"

He was up out of his chair and down the hall faster than his tormented body should have allowed. Distantly he felt the others follow him just as quickly but all of his focus was on the sole occupant of the ward so he ignored them.

Draco flung open the door and rushed to Ginny's bed where she was tossing and crying. A male Healer was attempting to hold her still so he could administer a calming potion but he was failing miserably. Draco shoved the Healer aside and climbed into the bed with Ginny. He caught her flailing hands in one of his own and used his other hand to roughly shake her shoulder.

"Wake up! Ginny!"

Nothing. Tom had her held tightly inside her mind.

"Leave her alone! Get out of her head!" Draco tried to wake her again to no avail.

"What's wrong with my sister?" Ron Weasley grabbed Draco's shoulder and tried to pull the blonde away. Draco lashed out with a foot and caught Ron in the stomach sending the boy sprawling across the room.

Draco watched as a fist shaped bruise appeared on Ginny's cheek and blood began to drip out of her mouth.

He had to stop this because he was sure that this time, Voldemort would not leave Ginny alive. Her uses as a form of entertainment were over now that Dumbledore knew. Voldemort was going to end her existence.

Draco curled his body around Ginny's to ward off further attempts to hit her but the shielding protection of his body encasing hers would not save her from what was happening in her mind.

Draco sobbed and pulled her limp body into his arms. "Let her go. Please let her go!"

Another bruise bloomed above her temple, this time in the shape of a boot tip.

"No!" Draco snarled. "Leave her now!" He was desperate so maybe that explained what happened next, but he could feel his mind detaching itself from his body.

Suddenly he was in Ginny's mind and he could see her lying on the ground with a handsome man with jet-black hair violently kicking her.

'Tom Riddle in his human form,' Draco thought idly as his mind flung forward and shoved Riddle away from his Ginny.

"Leave her." Draco said as he stood over Ginny's huddled form. "Don't ever return."

Riddle looked at Draco and his eyes flared red. Malfoy was shaking in fear but he still stood protectively over the tiny girl. He still disobeyed his Master.

"Consider yourself dead, Draco Malfoy." Riddle's mouth moved and Draco heard him with both his mind's ear and his body's ear. He could vaguely see Ginny's mouth moving on the outside and could tell that the sounds coming from her mouth were in a high cold voice that was not her own.

Then Riddle was gone and Draco gathered Ginny's huddled dream body into the shelter he could provide. He stayed while she calmed and slipped from dreams to unconsciousness before leaving for the black oblivion in his own mind; knowing that even though he physically left, they would never truly be separated again.

III

"What just happened Dumbledore?" Arthur Weasley was the first to speak and break the shocked silence that had fallen over the room.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and carefully took of his half-moon spectacles. He gently cleaned them with his shirt and replaced them on his face before speaking.

"I believe that they have bonded," Dumbledore began quietly.

"Do you mean bonded like marriage bonds?" Fred interrupted harshly.

"Not quite, Mr. Weasley. But it is very similar and yet so much stronger." Dumbledore took a few steps forward and gently lifted the blanket from the end of the bed and covered the unconscious teens. "It is something that can only be done in the direst of circumstances between two whose base existence has been shaped by the same experiences. The more similar the experiences, the tighter the bond."

"How similar were their experiences?" Charlie asked in a soft voice that showed that he was not really sure if he wanted the answer to his question.

"Torture of the most horrific kind shapes how one views the outside world and how one views the inner self. In their case torture is the defining similarity. They still have some base differences; Ginny has her family to rely on and to love while Draco lacks this."

"So it's not a permanent bond since they're not exactly alike?" Ron jumped in.

"If what I have outlined so far were the only reasons for the bond, then yes, it would be possible for this to not be permanent, but there are two reasons why I must disagree.

"The first is blood magic."

Molly gasped. "That's dark magic Albus!"

"Yes, it can be dark magic but in this case it is not. Draco Malfoy took your daughters virginity and unknown to both, tied himself to her as her protector with the magic lifted during the act."

"And the second reason?" Bill whispered.

"I believe that they are soul mates." Dumbledore said finally. "They were put on this Earth to find each other and to save each other from the terrors that would harm them."

"So what's left then?" Arthur sighed. "If this bonding truly exists then what do we do with them?"

"Let them heal as best they can." Dumbledore sighed. "Let them be together, let them free each other, and allow them time to come to grips with the shadows that will always haunt them."

"But what can _we _do?" Charlie stressed.

"Hide them both." Dumbledore said immediately. "Voldemort wishes to kill them and we cannot allow that."

Arthur nodded. "We will do all we can."

Dumbledore nodded and smiled sadly at the bed. "And they will do all they can too."

III

A.N. It's not over yet! I was considering ending it here but have decided that this can easily span into a few more chapters that should promise to be more interesting. How do you like what I have done so far? Remember, updates will be few and far between because of the horrific mood I have to be in to actually need the catharsis writing this brings. Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

I don't want to move, I don't want to think. All I want is to lay here and breath.

Does there need to be more than that in my life? Everything I've ever known is in shambles.

The bed covers rustle next to me but I ignore him. He is in my mind anyway; I always know where he is, what he's thinking, and what he's feeling; just as he knows me.

Depression.

Yes, that's what he's feeling. But at the same time, it's more—doubled—because I feel it too. That crushing weight in my head, the constricting bands around my chest, gods my mind just doesn't want to flow.

I'm stuck with the same thoughts floating around in circles. The fish, swimming around it's bowl, only, the water is draining, or maybe it's more that the bowl is actually a pot sitting over a fire and waiting to boil. Except, there's nothing left to boil.

Nothingness.

The bed covers rustle again and his arm wraps around my stomach. He pulls me closer to his warm chest and breathes slowly into my hair. He's asleep, how lucky.

My eyes stare into the harsh white walls and windows covered with harsh white curtains and a new thought slips into the stagnant pool of my mind.

"Why me? Why us?"

Tom Riddle has fled my mind, forced away by Draco, but the scars still remain. I know my face is tender from recent healing and the healer could not spell away all the bruising.

His arm is half uncovered and I see the red scar, from wrist to elbow. It is the only scar he put on his body himself. The rest were from torture; torment at the hands of his father.

The scar looks nice. It's a good way to end the depression, the nothingness. I know that if I find a knife Draco will aid me. He would cut my wrists just as I would cut his. We could leave together. We could forget this place that has hurt us and leave behind the people who will tear us apart. It would be so easy, so simple.

Draco's breath exhales behind my ear and I can't stop the shiver that's running up my spine.

Such a strong feeling brought on by a simple thing like breathing. I wonder if Draco would ever breathe over another part of my body. Would his sweet breath make my spine shiver? Or make me moan under him? We did that once and it was rape for both of us. We raped each other. I know that. He knows that. It is one of the reasons we both feel depressed.

I should get up, maybe move around a bit and figure out where they took me. I remember the Great Hall in Hogwarts. I remember hearing that Draco had tried to kill himself. And I remember losing control of my emotions and letting my mask fall.

I remember Draco fighting away Tom Riddle in my mind.

Draco shifts beside me and I know he is awake because of the binding that ties us together.

"Ginny, don't leave me." He whispered in a quiet voice. "We can get through this together."

"Do we have to?" I whispered back softly in a broken voice. "Why should we even try?"

"Because there is more than just white walls and no feelings. Ginny, the worst is over and we can grow."

"When you've hit rock bottom," I laughed softly.

Draco finished my thought, "the only place left to go is up."

"Do you think we can?" I know my voice sounded doubtful and that Draco could sense the fear in my mind.

"How do we know until we try?" His answer was clichéd but the feelings his mind wove around those small words, feelings of hope and of positive possibilities, were what made me wonder if we really could.

"After all, we were surviving well enough when we were still under attack." Draco continued. "We made it though school well enough and we continued to exist even after we were pushed repeatedly off the highest of towers by our assailants. Now that we don't have to worry about being beaten or raped we can do even better than before."

I rolled over and buried my nose in his collarbone. "It'll be hard. Just hold my hand the whole way?"

"Always."

Five minutes later Molly Weasley found her baby girl asleep in the hospital bed with a smile on her face. She had Malfoy's arms wrapped protectively around her fragile body and was clutching his shirt like the lifeline he really was.

As she entered the room Draco's eyes opened. "Have you found a place for us to stay?" He whispered.

"Dumbledore actually thinks it would be best for you two to remain at Hogwarts. He is having the house elves move your belongings to the secret room you share." Molly answered with some trepidation. She had argued for long hours with Dumbledore on the wisdom of taking Ginny away from her family. They would even take in Draco Malfoy if he would help their baby recover.

But Dumbledore had said that they didn't need to be coddled or swaddled with cloth and hidden away. Nor did they need to be smothered with the overprotective feelings of too much care.

"Normalcy is what is most important to their healing." Dumbledore had said. "If they can see that the world still turns and that life goes on, then they can also see that they can re-enter the world and join the passing of time. Hiding them away in the Burrow or in any other safe house will only give them the dark recesses of their damaged minds to contemplate."

"Dumbledore has said that you must attend classes and be in the Great Hall for at least one meal a day. You are to go out on Hogsmeade weekends and to play Quidditch for your house teams. In return you are allowed to do anything you wish while in your room." Molly whispered but her voice was monotonous as if she were reading a speech that Dumbledore had prepared for her.

"We will try." Ginny whispered from the bed. "Thank you mum."

III

Six Years Later-

"Here is your baby Mrs. Malfoy." The healer handed Ginny her newborn baby girl. "What name should we write on the birth certificate?"

Draco gently put their three-year-old son, Hope Malfoy, onto the bed and let him climb up to the pillow next to his mother.

"Joy." Ginny smiled.

"Joy Malfoy." Draco nodded. "I like it!" He bent down and kissed his wife.

Six years ago they had survived their terrible ordeal on hope and had flourished, especially when Harry had defeated Voldemort and Lucius had died in the attack.

Three years ago hope had brought them a son.

Their son had brought them joy and now they had even more joy in their lives.

The scars still remained and the nightmares would always plague them but now they had Hope and Joy and only memories of what the bottom felt like.

Because life kept going, even at rock bottom, and even if bad things happened they were secure in the knowledge that it would _always_ get better.

III

A.N. Yes, I will tell you that it is the wrong time of the month and that is why I feel so wretchedly awful. Those feelings Ginny expresses in her first person dialogue about depression and nothingness are exactly what I was feeling before I started writing this chapter (stupid hormones). As I wrote and put my feelings in writing I lost my sense of aloneness and I'm feeling better.

Thank you for reading and understanding that much of what I have posted over the last year is real, is inside me, and inside you.

I hope that you heal and that you always have hope. Because it is true that once you've hit rock bottom the only way left is up.

Now, go read something happy!

Thanks,

Mell8

"The only way out is up! A leap of faith."

-Rent, Over the Moon

The End


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